The History: 1960 - 1969

A rare copy of the first ever Buster

The first issue of Buster comic (seen
above) went on sale on Saturday 21st May 1960. For the first time we met the son of
Andy Capp, a character who was already enjoying his own comic strip and later TV
fame.

By this time, the Buster strip itself had
changed to the more familiar Buster's Diary, present for many years in the comic and
the annual. Other strips which may be familiar to later readers include The Leopard from Lime Street.

The First Ever Issue of The Big One from October 1964

Just before the fifth birthday of Buster,
the comic made it's third merger, taking over The Big One which launched in October
1964. This merger bought Charlie Peace, Smiler, and Sinbad Simms.

Buster with The Big One from February 1965

By this time, most of the Buster strips had
regressed into Black and White with just the front page in colour. Large colourful
strips would not return until the ninties, with Black and White being used for the
seventies, and red being the only colour used on some strips in the eighties.

Over the next few years Buster would introduce some of it's own new strips
including, Pete's Pocket Army and Nellyphant. Around the same time, Buster made it's final
merger of the sixties.